It’s week three of the #mbbinstachallenge! I was really excited about this one because it’s totally in my wheelhouse. The theme: smoky taupe.
Funny… When I was digging through my makeup drawers looking for makeup to use for this look, I grabbed a whole bunch of golden taupe powder eyeshadows that I thought might work with it, like Urban Decay Dark Horse and Secret Service. And Mushroom, in particular, was one I thought would totally work.
Oh, and I also tried this old MAC Starflash shadow called Smoke & Diamonds from 2009’s Love That Look collection, which is golden taupe perfection incarnate.
I tried all of them in various combos, but they just didn’t read quite like the inspiration picture below…
The gal in the picture has a hint of glossiness on her eyes, and I couldn’t get that same effect with those shimmery powder shadows I grabbed, so I ended up going with some cream shadows, like this one from Tom Ford called “Spring 2015” (yes, that’s its actual name, and I love it so much that I stocked up on it). It’s a fan-friggin-tastic dark golden taupe. And another TF shade called Platinum.
I used the dark golden taupe all over my lids, hit the outer V with dark matte brown MAC Brun (a powder eyeshadow), and then I smoked out the lower lash line and the edges with satiny golden brown MAC Soba.
So I did end up using some powder shadows for depth and to transition, but the glossy effect was thanks to the cream shadows.
I kept the rest of the look super simple. The model was wearing barely-there cheek color and a creamy nude lip, so I went with good old NARS Madly Blush and Hourglass Peacemaker Girl Lip Stylo.
Oh! — one last thing. I tried to get the spiky lash effect but ended up with super separated lashes, which was the best I could do. I used Urban Decay Cannonball Waterproof Mascara, which is fantastic for length, separation and curl hold. I use it all the time (and sometimes as a primer for other mascaras).
I can’t wait to see what you whip up! 🙂 Don’t forget to use hashtag #mbbinstachallenge, and tag me @karenmbb. Or, if you’re not on Instagram and you’d rather just send me a pic, you can do that too. Fran (what’s up, Fran!) did that for the first challenge, and I love that I can now picture her face whenever I chat with her in the comments. I’d love to be able to picture you too!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Hey Karen, love this look! I had actually done a look for the first challenge but since I’m not on Instagram I was having trouble figuring out how to attach the picture I took on my laptop here, so I gave up. Is it possible to attach pics here in the comment section btw? (Pardon my ignorance.)
Hey Tisha! Oh, I wanna see! You can email it to me. Karen at makeupandbeautyblog dot com.
Beautiful eye look! Very sexy! And Peacemaker is GREAT color, pairs so well with the eye look.
I have a ton of taupes, but I am not sure if I am going to get the glossiness with them. Lets see…
Oh and, I missed last week, but the only time for me to wear something bold was on Sunday, and I just couldn’t be bothered. Maybe I will try to recreate it later in the challenge.
Oh, I think Platinum is a great idea for this look! I don’t have Spring 2015 though (great name, huh? lol). Now I’ll have to see what I can come up with for this look that’s different!
I think I can use Hourglass Ethereal Glow on cheeks, and on lips Laura Mercier Milk Chocolate lipstick topped with Sephora gloss balm in Earth Angel… need to look at my NARS Dual Intensity and Viseart palettes for eyeshadows, I think… or maybe MUFE shadows…
I might have to do this one this weekend, we’ll see if I can pull myself out of my depression hole!
This was a good challenge for me because I usually do grey-leaning taupes. I did a couple of different looks — one quick and lazy, with three Nudestix, my fingers and one brush, the other long and involved with cream and powder shadows — and they may have come out more golden than taupe, I’m not sure!
I also don’t have many nude pink lip colors, since I don’t think that they’re that flattering on me, but my MAC Patent Polish lip crayon on Patent Pink came through for me 🙂